Interconnection systems are known which comprise a mother board electrically connected to an array of daughter boards. The daughter boards are electrically connected to the mother board by any of several types of known connectors and terminal members, and are interconnected by the mother board to each other. The mother board connectors include a dielectric housing member having a plurality of terminal members mounted therein. The terminal members include contact portions that pass through apertures in the board and extend outwardly from the undersurface of the board. The mother board contains a plurality of circuits electrically connected in series through the connectors via the daughter boards.
Typically the daughter boards provide different functions or programs for an electronic system that are then transmitted to the "outside world" through the mother board connectors. If a particular electronic application does not require the use of daughter boards engaged with all the mother board connectors, the open circuits in the "unused" mother board connector prevents a signal from being transmitted to subsequent connectors and their respective daughter boards. One method to "close" these open circuits is by "wire wrapping" the terminal member leads that protrude from the lower surface of the mother board to the appropriate terminal member leads in the next mother board connector thus allowing signals to be transmitted between the adjacent connectors. This wire wrapping takes time and in many instances requires that the mother board and the associated daughter boards be removed from the apparatus in order to accomplish the task. Furthermore, should a daughter board in one of the array become damaged or otherwise need to be removed from the system, the system is down until the daughter board has been repaired and/or replaced or wire wrapping has occurred.
It is desirable, therefore, to have a means whereby open circuits can be readily closed while minimizing down time of the system.
It is also desirable to have a system whereby a standardized mother board can be used in a series of applications, each of which may require a different number or arrangement of daughter boards.
It is further desirable to have a system whereby a daughter board may readily be added or changed at a later time without having to disturb the remaining system.
Additionally, it is desirable to have a means to change the capabilities of a system with a minimum amount of effort.